Oh….I can hear you telling me “That sounds disgusting!” But wait….just hear me out!It’s found in the sediment of rivers, streams, lakes, and the sea – which means it is completely natural.

What does it do?

DE has many practical applications in the home. It will kill insects and mites in the home, in the garden, and on your pets.

Sounds good.

Let’s learn a bit more and take a look at how to apply diatomaceous earth.

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It should also be noted that DE is a challenge for a domestic vacuum cleaner and will block the filter quickly. Make sure that you clean the filter regularly when cleaning up to avoid damaging the motor.

How To Apply Diatomaceous Earth For Bed Bugs

Bed bugs can affect any home – they live in warm locations, and are particularly fond of our beds, clothes, carpets, and furniture. The human body is a constant source of food for bed bugs, so they can be real pests in the home.

Luckily, DE is the chemical-free, effective method of eradicating bed bugs from the home. It’s safe to apply all around the house, and safe around pets and children.

DE only affects adult bed bugs, so this is no immediate fix – you’ll need to leave it for a couple of weeks to break the life-cycle.

How To Apply Diatomaceous Earth For Dogs

Firstly, observe the areas where your pet likes to spend their time – it could be on your bed, in a kennel, on a pillow or a rug. Cats often enjoy sitting high up – mine sits on top of the wardrobe for hours on end. These are the hotspots, where the eggs are likely to be gestating.

Vacuum your pet’s favorite hang-outs.

Dust the area with DE

After a couple of days of lying around in DE, give your dog a thorough shampooing; which they’re likely to hate, of course, but DE can dry out the skin if left for too long.

Once they’re all sweet and dry and fragrant, give them a once-over with a flea comb. Comb them every few days to check for signs of a return.

After a couple of weeks, it’s time to vacuum up the DE.

The process is the same for cats, but you can miss out the shampooing stage. Have you ever tried keeping a cat still for that long?!

How To Apply Diatomaceous Earth Outdoors and In The Garden

Of course, fleas, bugs, and pests start out life in the outdoors and find their way into the home; usually on our furry friends.

Bearing in mind that DE is also effective on cockroaches and larger pests, application outside of the house can prevent infestation on the inside.

Although DE works only when the powder is dry, it can be applied in a wet form; it will only take effect once the powder has dried out. Diatomaceous earth spray is particularly useful outside, especially when applying to areas where a fine layer of dust is likely to blow away.

The wet application method makes the DE stick, so remains effective on the outside of the home, as well as on the inside

We tried a hand held seed spreader and it blew it out too fast resulting in too much in one spot. I just read that you can apply it wet causing it to stick and it will work once it dries. I am going to try a sprayer with it set on a heavy spray.

My understanding is that insects such as earwigs do not have to ingest the DE, but only need to crawl over approx 3” wide of DE so as to have their wax outer body scratched, get dehydrated and die. Is that correct? I’m making traps with soya sauce and fish oil combined as bait in the middle but earwigs must crawl through an area of DE before reaching the bait. We did this last night and found one live earwig struggling in the toilet this morning. For water perhaps?

I am going to be staying in a Hampton Inn for four nights and then moving to a time share unit for five nights. How can i spread diatomaceous Earth and where do I use it to be sure I don’t get bed bugs if they are in these rooms?

Can you apply this to a bed to get rid of fleas. My cats lounge on my bed and now they are on my bed and I have allergic reactions when bit. I wash all bedding every other day but it’s getting old. Have been using an herbal spray but it does not seem to work. Will be trying this in the house but need to know if I can apply it to furniture that is used daily.

It will work to get rid of fleas on a particular bed, but you really need to kill all the fleas in the area, not just in the bed. This way you break the life cycle and dont just have new fleas appearing once the dust is gone from the bed.

Yes I was planning on treating the area also but wasn’t sure if treating the bed was also possible. So now I will treat the cate, the area and the bed all at once and hope for the best. What would be the best way to treat the bed? Thank you so much for the info. 🙂

So….my roommate basically spread this in my house without taking any precautions. It literally ended up covering the tops of book cases. Dusting all surfaces. What’s the best way to get this out of my couch and off the walls?

To get back to frequency of application. I would assume when the DE is no longer visible and the “critters” are still about….. I would tend to reapply, every two or three weeks dependent upon the weather. Does that seem acceptable?
Very good reading the comments and the responses. Thanks, su

Your information lacks a critical component so is useless for practical purposes..
This page, like every other I’ve seen including those of sellers, gives no clue whatsoever about how much powder to use for any given purpose. Does it take a pound to dust the soil of a 20’x15′ garden? Three pounds? Ten? How much (per linear yard) is needed to dust around the perimeter of a house to kill insects? An ounce, three, ten…?
I know not to expect exact amounts, but range estimates should be easy to provide. Furthermore, they should be prominently displayed as vitally important to anyone who wants to use the stuff. Please add this info to the page.
Thanks.

It is not an exact science so providing precise measurements is not really possible. The amount you use depends on your unique situation – Sometimes you may use a small amount to create a thin entry barrier, or if you are trying to kill an entrenched infestation you may need a lot more. It’s a matter of doing some trial and error and seeing what works for your situation.

I use to have a hand pump to apply my diatomaceous earth. It had a about a 5 cup chamber that I could fell, and then Id pump it, and It was perfect, because I could get up under the leaves of a plant, but can no longer find one and dont remember where I got mine. Any one know of such a thing, please let me know. thanks

Have you ever heard of DE being used to control Moths? We have a seasonal invasion of Miller moths and they do a good job of squeezing through little nooks to get into the home. I’m wondering if applying this around windows and doors would have an effect on them? Any recomendations on how I should apply it to test this out?

Hi Ryan, I’ve heard of it being used to get rid of clothes moths, but not Miller Moths.
It might be worth a try if you aren’t having luck with anything else! I would just try the method you mentioned, sprinkle it in any locations that the moths are getting in and see if you notice any improvements.

Please do report back on what you find, I’m interested to see if it works!

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